Frog-simulating fish lure



March 4, 1941.

A. L. HAYLEY, JR 4 FROG-SIMULATING FISH LURE Filed July 17, 1940INVENFOR,

W9 TVOAQNEW Patented Mar. 4, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEFROG-SIMULATING FISH LURE Arthur L. Hayley, Jr., Louisville, Ky.

Application July 17, 1940, Serial No. 345,947

This invention relates to frog-simulating fish it appears with its legsin the inclined retracted 7 Claims.

lures or artificial baits and, more particularly, to

those equipped with movable legs.

In swimming through water, the legs of a frog move between retracted andextended positions. In the retracted position, the thighs of the legsincline forwardly upward adjacent the body, while in the extendedposition they project horizontally rearward away from the body,Frogsimulating lures equipped with movable legs have heretofore beenprovided. The legs, however, are arranged for movement in the horizontalplane only; hence the lures do not accurately simulate the actual legmovements of a frog.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a frog-simulatinglure equipped with legs which are arranged for movement between inclincdretracted and horizontally extended positions, and which move betweensuch positions in a realistic or lifelike manner.

Heretofore, most of the frog-simulating lures, which have been providedwith legs arranged for movement between retracted and extendedpositions, rely upon water resistance to move the legs to one positionand embody some form of delicate spring mechanism to return the legs tothe other position. These spring mechanisms have rendered the luresunsatisfactory because: they must be extremely delicate in order tominimize the degree of water resistance necessary to effect legmovement; and, being delicate, they are difiicult to keep in workingorder. Furthermore, even delicate springs require appreciable waterresistance to overcome their spring action; hence often entirelyprevent, or substantially restrict, leg motion when the lure is beingused. Finally, the use of springs not only complicates any provisionwhich might be made for leg movement in more than one plane but alsoincreases the manufacturing cost of the lure.

Another important object of this invention is to provide an inexpensivelure having an extremely simple, yet sturdy leg assembly, the legs ofwhich have buoyant properties causing them to assume an upwardlyinclined retracted position when the lure is stationary while Permittingthem to be moved by water resistance to the horizontally extendedposition upon forward motion of the lure through water. An arrangementof this character renders unnecessary the use of auxiliary springs orother like mechanism.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a rear view of my improved lure as position when stationaryin water;

Figures 2 and 3 are side and longitudinal vertical sectional views ofthe lure with its legs in the retracted position; and

Figures 4 and 5 are top plan and side elevational views of the same lurewith its legs in the extended position, one leg member, in Figure 4,being partly broken for the sake of clearness.

The lure illustrated comprises a body portion I composed of a plastic, awell-seasoned wood or other buoyant material, and fashioned to simulatethe shape of the head and body of a frog. The body of the lure isprovided with an eye 2 for attachment to a fishing line.

The area adjacent the eye 2 may be concavely recessed, if desired, forwell-known purposes.

The lure further includes buoyant leg members 3, which simulate thethighs of a frog, and means pivotally connecting the thigh members 3 tothe body I of the lure.

In accordance with my invention, the pivotal leg-connecting means isarranged to permit the legs to swing about a pivot upwardly, as a resultof their buoyancy, to the retracted position when the lure isstationary, and rearwardly, as a result of water resistance, to theextended position when the lure is moved forwardly through water. Thismay be accomplished by connecting the legs to the body in various waysas by means of a swivel joint which, when the lure is stationary, islocated sufiiciently below the normal Water line of the lure to renderthe buoyant properties of the thighs 3 effective in causing them toswing upwardly into the retracted position shown in Figures 1 to 3inclusive.

Preferably, the upward wardly extending position.

Accordingly, a flap 4 is pivotally mounted on the body I, at or adjacentits rear end, for movement more or less within a vertical plane from anormal or stationary position, in which it depends vertically from thebody I, to an operative or extended position in which it projectshorizontally rearwardly from the body I.

The flap 4 is arranged to swing by gravity to the normal or verticallydepending position when the lure is stationary and to be swung by waterresistance to the operative or horizontally and rearwardly projectingposition when the lure is being moved forwardly in water. While separateflaps 4 may be provided for each leg, only one flap is necessary and, inthe structure illustrated, only one is shown. It is not necessary thatthe flap rigidly adhere to a single vertical plane of movement sincesome wobble out of that plane will ordinarily occur and may even bedesirable. Furthermore, it will be noted that the flap 4 extends into anangular recess 5 within the body I which permits approximately 45degrees of relative vertical angular movement between the flap 4 and thebody I. However, as the flap 4 swings upwardly and rearwardly from thenormal position, the body I will likewise swing upwardly and rearwardlyso that the combined upward and rearward swinging motion of both body Iand fiap 4 will result in the fiaps moving somewhat less than 90 degreesto the more or less horizontal position shown in Figure 5.

The legs 3 may be pivotally mounted upon the fiap 4 at any point alongits length so long as the leg pivots are located below the normal waterline of the lure, when it is stationary, sufficiently to render thebuoyant properties of the leg members 3 effective in causing them toswing upwardly into and remain in the retracted position shown inFigures 1 to 3. When the legs are rearwardly extended, they preferablyshould not lie parallel but should diverge slightly as shown in Figure4. Divergence is desirable in order to insure the upward swingingmovement of the legs into the retracted position when the flap returnsfrom the horizontal position to the vertical position. To insuredivergence, the flap i is provided with stops 6 which enga e the legswhen thehy swing rearwardly to the desired limit and thus prevent themfrom swinging farther eitherinto a parallel or a rearwardly convergingrelation.

The lure shown may be additionally provided with fluttering leg membersI connected to the leg members 3 for the purpose of simulating the calfportions of the legs of a frog. A suitable number of hooks 8 may beprovided, two being shown, one connected to the body I and the other tothe tail end of the fiap 4.

In operation, a fishing line is attached to the eye 2, and the luresimply thrown in the water. If the lure falls into the water upon itsback, the weight of the flap i will cause it to turn over into theproper position. While the lure is stationary, the flap 4 will swing toand remain in the vertical position indicated in Figures 1 to 3, therebypermitting the legs to float upwardly about their pivots to theretracted position. When the lure is jerked forwardly through the water,the water resistance of the flap causes it to swing upwardly andrearwardly about its pivot. At thesame time, the body of the lure willswing, raising the tail portion of the body and thus bringing the flap 4into the more or less horizontal rearwardly projecting position shown inFigures 4 and 5. As the fiap 4 thus swings or moves from the verticaltoward the horizontal, the water resistance of the leg members 3 becomesmore and more effective and ultimately Figures 4 and 5, thuscompletingfone phase of the leg movement. 'When forward motion of thelure ceases, the flap 4 sinks toward the vertical position and, in doingso, forces the tail portion of the lure to swing slightly downward withthe result that the flap 4 ultimately reaches its normal or verticallydepending position. As it approaches this position, the buoyantproperties of the divergent legs become more and more effective,ultimately causing them to swing outwardly and upwardly into theretracted position shown in Figures 1 to 3, thus completing the lastphase of leg motion. These phases of leg motions necessarily arerepeated when the lure is again jerked forwardly and then allowed tocome substantially to rest.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. An artificial fish lure comprising: a buoyant body member; meansconnected to said body member and normally assuming one position whenthe lure is stationary, said means moving to another position when thelure is moved forwardly through water; and a buoyant leg memberpivotally mounted on and bodily carried by said means, the buoyantproperty of said leg member being efiective in the normal position ofsaid means to cause the leg member to move to an upwardly extendingposition and the water resistance of said leg member being effective inthe other position of said means to cause the leg member to assume arearwardly projecting position.

' "2; An artificial fish lure comprising: a buoyant body member; a flapconnected to saidbody member-and normally extending downwardly when thelure is stationary, said flap moving to another position when the lureis moved forwardly through water; and a buoyant leg member pivota'liycarried by said flap, the buoyant property of said leg member beingeffective when the flap is in its normal position to cause it to assumean upwardly extending position and the water resistance of said legmember being effective When the flap is in its other position to causeit to assume a rearwardly projecting position.

An artificial fish lure comprising: a buoyant body member; a flapconnected to said body member and arranged to depend downwardlytherefrom when the lure is stationary and to be swung by waterresistance to a rearwardly projecting position when the lure is beingmoved forwardly in water, the flap returning by gravity to the dependingposition when said forward motion ceases; a buoyant leg member pivotallyconnected to and extending laterally from said flap, the

buoyant property of said leg member being effectivein the dependingposition of said 'flap to cause the leg member to float upwardly-aboutits pivot to an upwardly extending position, and

the water resistance of said leg member being effective in therearwardly projecting position of said flap to cause the leg member toswing rearwardly to a rearwardly projecting position.

4; An artificial fish lure comprising: 'a buoyant body member; a fiappivotally connected to said body member for vertical movement from anormal' downwardly depending position which thefiap' assumes when thelure is stationary to a rearwardly projecting position into which theflap is swung by water resistance when the lure is being moved forwardlyin water, the flap returning by gravity to the depending position whensaid forward motion ceases; a buoyant leg member pivotall-yeonnected tosaid flap for swinging movement at an angle to the plane of fiapmovement, said leg member being arranged to swing to an upwardlyextending position, as a'result of its buoyancy, when the flap dependsdownwardly, and to swing to a rearwardly projecting position as a resultof its water resistance when the flap projects rearwardly.

5. The lure defined in claim 4 wherein said flap is provided with a stopto limit the rearward swinging motion of said leg member.

6. An artificial fish lure comprising: a buoyant body member; a buoyantleg member adapted for movement from a retracted position, in which itextends upwardly along the body, to an extended position, in which itprojects rearwardly from the body; and means connecting said leg memberto said body member, said means being arranged when the lure isstationary to occupy one position permitting said leg member to swingupwardly, as a result of its buoyancy, to the retracted position, and,when the lure is moved forwardly through water, to move to anotherposition permitting said leg member to swing laterally, as a result ofwater resistance, to the extended position.

'7. The lure of claim 6, wherein: said leg connecting means provides anaXis about which the leg member swings, said axis extending in said oneposition more or less horizontally, permitting the leg member to swingmore or less vertically, and, in said other position, more or lessvertically, permitting said leg member to swing more or lesshorizontally.

ARTHUR L. I-IAYLEY, J R.

